DRIAN GALLERIES

1957 - 1998

Drian Galleries were opened by artist Halima Nalecz (Halima Maria Krzywica-Nowohonska (2 February 1914-25 September 2008) in Porchester Place, Bayswater continuing her prior involvement with the New Vision philosophy. Halima had been born in Antonowo in the Vilnius region in the district of Grodzieńsk, Lithuania and studied painting at the Stefan Batory University under the supervision of Professor Michal Rouba (1893-1941) and she married in 1936, Jastrzebiec‑Wieckowski Stanisław. After travelling to various European countries, she came to London in 1947 and assumed the artistic pseudonym ‘Halima’, which eventually substituted her first names Halina Maria, and a previously unknown Polish woman made her entrance into the artistic circles of London. After her marriage to Zygmunt Nałęcz (died 1986), Halima decided to return to her painting studies at the School of Conservation of Easel Painting in London and under Belgian abstractionist Henri-Jean Closon (1888-1975) in his Paris studio and her work evolved from non-figurative to figurative, in a style instantly recognisable and clearly pointing to her East European roots. In 1956 along with fellow artists Denis Arthur Bowen (1921-2006) and Frank Avray Wilson (1914-2009), she opened the New Vision Centre near London's Marble Arch which was aimed at artists who were deemed unworthy stylistically of exhibiting their work in the prestigious Bond Street galleries. The following year on 23 October 1957, Halima opened the Drian Gallery, shortened from artist 'Mondian' and the name changed into plural Drian Galleries in November 1960. It gave the first big exhibitions in England to John Bellany (1942-2013), William John Crozier, Michael Sandle (1936-), Yaacov Agam (1928-), Douglas Portway (1922-1993) and many more emerging artists of the period. These two galleries, the New Vision Gallery and Halima’s Drian Gallery, cooperated with each other very closely. The last event to take place at Porchester Place was the exhibition of photo-montages by Basil Alkazzi (1938-) in 1989 and on the decision of 84-year-old Halima Nalecz, the Drian Galleries ceased its activities in 1998. Halima Nalecz continued to paint and died on 25 September 2008. Other Suffolk artists who exhibited with the Drian Galleries included Margaret Arthur, Frank Beanland, Johanna Cecilia Hansi Bohm, Rosalie Eugenie De Meric, Romy Jacob, Krysia Michna-Nowak and Glyn Morgan.

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Works by This Artist